Showing posts with label Malignant Narcissist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malignant Narcissist. Show all posts

Saturday, June 1, 2024

How to Tell You're Dealing with a Malignant Narcissist:


The intentional destruction of others while pathologically loving self.

By Rhonda Freeman Ph.D.

Posted February 22, 2017

Narcissistic personality disorder is often equated with the selfie-loving, shallow boaster who wears on your patience. However, there is significantly more to the condition. Their behavior and mood are often dependent and driven by feedback from their environment; they typically need the message from others to be a positive one. The impression they wish to make and the intense guarding of their fragile self esteem is a strong determinant of their actions and thoughts.

Some narcissists can become stricken with anger, anxiety, depression, shame, and so forth if the information they receive does not match their inflated, protected inner self. From a neuropsychological standpoint, narcissistic personality disorder reflects problems with self and emotion regulation.

People who meet diagnostic criteria can have extremely fragile and fluctuating self esteem. There is a detachment from their true self. The condition often has a negative impact on the lives of people who love or interact with them.

Symptoms

Narcissistic personality disorder includes symptoms such as poor self identity, inability to appreciate others, entitlement, lack of authenticity, need for control, intolerance of the views/opinions of others, emotional detachment, grandiosity, lack of awareness or concern regarding the impact of their behavior, minimal emotional reciprocity, and a desperate need for the approval and positive attention of others.

Not everyone with pathological narcissism or narcissistic personality disorder will have the same presentation of the condition. There is heterogeneity, of course, because people are complex. There are differing levels of intensity and dimensions. For example, some with pathological narcissism are shy and avoidant (vulnerable), while others are primarily outgoing and overtly boastful (grandiose).

Cluster B Personality Disorders

Narcissistic personality disorder falls under the category of Cluster B Personality Disorders within the DSM-5. The conditions under this grouping include Borderline Personality, Narcissistic Personality, Histrionic Personality, and Antisocial Personality. Psychopathy, a condition marked by a lack of conscience, incapacity to bond, aggression, and interpersonal violations, is a subgroup within Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Although the disorders are distinct and reflect different categories of symptoms, it would not be unusual for someone to have symptoms of more than one Cluster B condition. As many psychologists and psychiatrists will attest, the personality profile of our patients does not always fit into a nice little box. There can be traits of other personality disorders that accompany the main condition. Take, for example, the combination of narcissistic and antisocial personality in describing malignant narcissism.

Self-Enhancement

"I am so smart! My IQ is above140."

Self-enhancement is a prominent feature of narcissistic personality disorder, regardless of the dimension. They view themselves in an overly positive light and believe they are unique and superior to others. In a meta-analysis review, researchers Grijalva and Zhang explored the insight of individuals with narcissistic personality disorder. The studies supported that people high in narcissism tend to over-estimate or exaggerate their abilities, status (for example, intelligence), and looks, more than could be supported by reality.

They believe they are better than other people, and usually the variables that are self-enhanced are related to "power and status" (agency). Even if evidence to the contrary is presented, such as the results of an IQ test. Often that reality will be challenged, rather than accepted. They might become extremely defensive and verbally attack or degrade the examiner who gave the test or the test itself ("What a stupid test!"). Indisputable evidence of their inaccurate, overly inflated self-assessment does not change the self-view of someone high in narcissism.

Vulnerability

"Make them believe I'm smart and handsome. I won't stand for anything else!"

In Section III of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, Fifth Edition ("Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders"), conditions associated with personality are conceptualized differently from the current diagnostic criteria. Consideration is given to both an individual's "functioning" as well as personality "traits" and are considered along a continuum, with dimensions. As a clinician, I find this approach more in line with the complexity of human behavior.

With regard to Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Section III highlights that people with this condition have "vulnerable self-esteem." This is regardless of whether the person is extroverted or introverted, or of the "vulnerable" or "grandiose" variants. They require regulation from the outside world to maintain many facets of the self. Therefore, they often use people to stabilize their emotions and the feelings they have regarding who they are and what they want to do or be.

The Brain, Pathological Narcissism, and Empathy

Research indicates that individuals diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder have some of the neurobiological impairments of psychopathy. This makes sense, given that narcissistic personality disorder is suspected to fall along a spectrum that includes psychopathy. One neuroimaging study found those with narcissistic personality disorder to have problems associated with the right anterior insular cortex — a region of the brain suspected to be associated with empathy.

In a 2013 publication, using neuroimaging, researchers from the University of Germany examined the brain patterns of individuals with narcissistic personality disorder. They yielded similar findings to the aforementioned study. The group that met criteria for the condition demonstrated smaller gray matter volume within areas of the brain associated with "emotional empathy" (the anterior insula and the fronto-paralimbic areas).

Neuroscience studies of this nature lend considerable evidence that people with pathological narcissism have limited capacity to interact pro-socially with society. Faulty brain functions are a significant hindrance.

Dimensions of Narcissistic Personality Disorder

There is more to narcissism than intensity levels. Studies have identified the presence of dimensions. Some researchers refer to them as variants or subtypes, however Kenneth Levy's 2012 review of the literature suggests it is likely most accurate to view the variants of this condition as dimensions and "dynamic." This reflects the reality of narcissistic personality disorder, whereby an individual can show patterns of more than one variant. The two most commonly described dimensions or variants in research are grandiose and vulnerable:
  • Grandiose. The descriptors often offered for this pattern of narcissism are extroversion, overt attention seeking, and grandiosity. 
  • Vulnerable. This reflects a neurotic style whereby an individual demonstrates a quieter/introverted presentation, anxiety, mood problems, avoidance, and modesty.
·        Malignant Narcissism

·        I want to explore with you the darker side of narcissistic personality disorder, where aggression, antisocial behaviors, and suspiciousness are as prominent as their poor sense of self, fragility, and egocentricity. (Below is a video clip that explores the symptoms of malignant narcissism.)

·        A person with malignant narcissism has the potential to destroy families, communities, nations, and work environments. This condition reflects a hybrid or blending of narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders. Psychologist Eric Fromm termed the disorder in 1964. Psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg later delineated the symptoms of the condition and presented it as an intermediary between narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders.

·        Why is the behavior of malignant narcissism often considered dangerous?

·        Individuals with this profile can form connections with others. However, they process information in ways that can hurt society in general, but also the people who love or depend on them. Family, co-workers, employees, and others in their lives often have to walk on eggshells to appease a fragile ego and minimize the occurrence of their unstable, impulsive, or aggressive behaviors.

·        They lash out or humiliate others for infractions of even the most frivolous nature (for example, you gave an opinion that differed from theirs; you demonstrated confidence, and it made them look bad; you told a joke that involved poking fun at them).

·        For some, their grandiosity and protection of their fragile "true self" can be at such extreme levels that they will lie and give the impression that simply because they say it, that makes it reality. Many will become angered if their lies are challenged with truth or facts. Of course, this can create problems for the people close to them, as this pattern of behavior can easily veer into gaslighting.

·        Malignant narcissism is a blend of two disorders that pose problems interpersonally for their victims — narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders. It is not uncommon for others to feel anxious, intimidated by, and fearful of people with this condition. The combination of poor empathy coupled with aggression, hypersensitivity, and suspiciousness can bring pain to others.

·        Those who interact with malignant narcissists often consider them jealous, petty, thin-skinned, punitive, hateful, cunning, and angry. Given their shallowness, they are not regulated emotionally and have beliefs that swing from one extreme to the next. 

·        Their decisions can hurt others, because they rank relationships and people based on superficial standards and categories. They want to land on top, even when pretending to be altruistic or engaging in an activity that should not be "all about them." They often view the world through a primitive binary lens (for example, winner/loser; smart/dumb; rich/poor; pretty/ugly; black/white) — all the while sustaining the belief that they are superior. This is likely associated with problems processing emotional information, which reflects faulty neurobiology.

·        Narcissistic and Antisocial Personality Disorder (subgroup inclusion of Psychopathy)

·        Researchers Gunderson and Ronningstam reviewed the works of Robert Hare, creator of the Psychopathy Checklist, and Otto Kernberg, MD (i.e., malignant narcissism). They cited that both individuals found narcissistic personality disorder to be a component of or veer into other conditions that are related, such as antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy. 

·        Both Hare and Kernberg discuss the inclusion of narcissistic personality disorder within more sinister, destructive personality types. Given that it seems there is a high correlation between antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders, Gunderson and Ronningstam decided to explore whether or not narcissistic personality disorder is truly a condition that is distinct from antisocial personality. 

·        They found that grandiosity was a significant discriminator between antisocial and narcissistic personality. Specifically, individuals with narcissistic personality tended to be “boastful,” arrogant, and grandiose regarding their abilities and achievements. Although they determined that both groups (ASPD and NPD) exploit others, exploitation was more apt to be the goal of those with antisocial personality.

·        Although I have presented the viewpoint of a narcissism spectrum, some researchers take the angle of an antisocial spectrum, while others consider each of the Cluster B disorders as overlapping.

·        I am in agreement with research that conceptualizes personality disorders, such as narcissistic personality and antisocial personality, as falling along a continuum. Across the continuum or spectrum will be different blends of the disorder, distinct, however, composed of symptoms of each other. I think that the overlap is often significant, and the current categorical classifications of personality often leave out blends of personality that we see with our patients — for example, malignant narcissism, psychopathy with borderline traits, introverted narcissism.






In support of Narcissistic Abuse awareness and recovery.



June 1st is World Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Day (WNAAD).

Recommended websites for research and recovery:
http://www.wnaad.com/

http://flyingmonkeysdenied.com/

http://www.innerintegration.com/

http://www.drgeorgesimon.com/

https://kimsaeed.com/

https://www.psychopathfree.com/

https://eclecticalu.blogspot.com/

https://micheleleenieves.com/

https://www.thriveafterabuse.com/

Twitter hashtags:

#AbuseByProxy #Adultery #AgainstBullying #BackStabbers #ClusterB #CPTSD #Enablers #FlirtingIsCheating #FlyingMonkeys #Gaslighting #HealingFromCPTSD #IAmEnough #IAmStillStanding #IfMyWoundsWereVisible #Infidelity #NarcissisticAbuse #Narcissism #Narcissist #NarcissisticPersonalityDisorder #Psychopath #PsychopathFree #SmearCampaign #Sociopath #ThrivingAfterNarcissisticAbuse #TwoFaced
 #WNAAD

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Man … or wolf … or both? – background on the writing of Slipped Masks:



Slipped Masks - Man … or wolf … or both?


When readers ask me how I settled on the plot of my novel, Slipped Masks, the last part of the 1916 poem, The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost, comes to mind:

 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

 


In the first draft of Slipped Masks, I told the story from the point of view of a detective, hired by the family of one of his victims. The detective chased the murderer, found the dead bodies, and theorized over what happened and the killer’s motives.

 

I completed an outline and hit a block before I even began to write the first draft.

 

The problem was telling the story this way felt like the road often traveled in this genre: a killer pursued, tracked, eventually captured, his motives revealed.

 

This earlier version also lacked a presentation of everything pathologically wrong with the killer. I wanted to go to a deeper, darker level than just the discovery of his crimes.

 

I wanted to get into the killer’s mind and have him narrate his own story to the reader, through the eyes of a man who truly believed he could shapeshift.

 

Writing the story from this perspective was the road less traveled by.

 

So, I started over. Scrapped the idea of the pursuing detective, and told the story from Casey Byrne’s first-person standpoint.

 

The two main themes of Slipped Masks are Clinical Lycanthropy and Malignant Narcissism.

 



Clinical Lycanthropy … all in the mind?


Clinical Lycanthropy is the rare but real delusion that a human can shapeshift into a wolf.

 

This presents the reader with two questions:

 

1. If you were insane … would you know it?

 

2. How would you see the world if you were convinced you could transform into a wolf?

 

 

The origins can be found in folklore, mythology, and superstition, with numerous books and movies on the subject.

 

The condition is now recognized as a form of psychosis, a manifestation of schizophrenia, among other psychological disorders, where the fractured mind and psyche can’t differentiate between reality and hallucination.

 

 

A human can’t transform into an animal.

We know it’s impossible.

It’s pure fiction.

Unreal.

 

However, for those afflicted with Clinical Lycanthropy it is very real.

 

Pause and consider …

 

As you read this, you are most likely sitting in a room.

Take a moment to look away from this page.

Look around your room.

You are aware of your surroundings.

Temperature.

Light from either a window, or bulb.

Time of day (or night).

If you are sitting, you will be aware of the seat cushion beneath you, behind your back, and your arm on the rest.

Sensation of the clothes you wear.

Scents.

Sounds.

Each breath you take.

Your sense of self.

Voice of your inner thoughts.

You are fully aware of the world around you and each passing moment.

 

This is your reality.

 

How confident are you that everything you see, hear, and feel … is real?

 

 

Now consider those afflicted with Clinical Lycanthropy.

 

Sufferers of this pathological syndrome describe the sensation of their muscles, tissues and bones reshaping. Reconfiguring. The process being intensely painful. Agonizing. Fur sprouting on their bodies, then shedding as they transform back to human form.

 

They have also described enhanced, super-human abilities:

 

Hearing and sight.

Night vision.

Thermal vision.

Speed and strength.

Ability to scale walls and defy gravity.

Fast-healing wounds.

Immortality.

 

They feel, sense, see, all of it.

 

This is their reality.

 

 

In other cases, sufferers reported shape-shifting into different animals or birds.

 

To some, it’s a way of hiding from the world.

A different species.

A different form.

A disguise.

A mask.


 

Casey Byrne, as volatile, formidable, sadistic, and lethal as he is, also uses physical and psychological masks.

His deep-rooted inadequacy leads to frustration at the world around him.

He is preoccupied with fantasies of stardom, wealth, power, and fame.

Unable to comprehend that other people have wants and needs of their own.

His narcissistic rage is triggered when others won’t go along and be subservient to his every whim.

When Byrne doesn’t get his own way, he violently lashes out.

He is selfish, petulant, and infantile.

His sense of entitlement is so strong that when others won’t give – he takes, often by force.

 

When Casey Byrne, in his twisted mind, transforms into a wolf, the world becomes his hunting ground. People his prey. The wolf is all-powerful, immortal, and indestructible.



The killer behind the mask of charm

 


Slipped Masks was inspired by several true cases.

 

Casey Byrne, like the real-life individuals I researched, is a dangerous narcissistic sociopath.

 

Narcissist:

a person who is selfish on a pathological level.

Thinks everything revolves around them and only cares about themselves and what they can take.

 

Sociopath:

a person with a destructive and dangerous personality disorder.

Has no empathy, conscience, or sense of guilt.

 

The terrifying reality is that killers look like everyone else.

Slipped Masks is about how the need for love and companionship became twisted into obsession, possession, jealousy, violence and murder.

Casey Byrne, like many real-life predators, can be charming and attractive.

Intelligent and engaging.

He weaponizes these attributes and uses them to lure and ensnare victims.

Byrne is one of the great pretenders that walk undetected among us.

Behind the mask, he is manipulative, controlling, possessive, petulant, jealous, spiteful and vicious, with no regard for other people’s boundaries or the law.

A killer with no conscience.

He only cares about what he wants – in the moment.

He doesn’t care who he has to hurt or kill to get it.

When his relationships go wrong, he blames his victims and takes no accountability for his own actions, selfishness, cruelty, and crimes.

 

Sound familiar?

 

 

Motive … or the lack of.



People kill for different reasons.

 

Money.

Hate.

Jealousy.

If they are psychotic, they may be triggered, or live in a twisted fantasy world

 

 

News reports, crime documentaries, and non-fiction books, remind us of how some people are capable of committing horrific crimes.

 

Not all toxic people go as far as murder, but they are dangerous and destructive.

 

They are self-absorbed, driven by jealousy, malice, greed, and rage, capable of destroying lives and leaving their victims financially, psychologically, and spiritually broken.

 

In the aftermath, survivors may experience the debilitating effects of Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD).

 

Knowledge enables you to spot the traits and tell-tale signs that you are in the presence of a narcissistic sociopath. Many survivors, reflecting on what they went through, come to the conclusion:

 

If I had known then what I know now, I would have had nothing to do with him/her!

 

When that superficial mask of charm slips … watch out!

 

If you are caught in a controlling, abusive relationship, and you recognize the signs of deceit, cheating, mind games, and gaslighting … get out!

 

Help, advice, and a path to recovery and healing are available.

 

You are not alone.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


In support of Narcissistic Abuse awareness and recovery:

 

June 1st is World Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Day (WNAAD).

 

Recommended websites for research and recovery:

 

http://www.wnaad.com/


http://flyingmonkeysdenied.com/


http://www.innerintegration.com/


http://www.drgeorgesimon.com/


https://kimsaeed.com/


https://www.psychopathfree.com/


https://eclecticalu.blogspot.com/


http://www.doctor-ramani.com/e


https://micheleleenieves.com/


https://www.thriveafterabuse.com/


https://www.tamiemcoaching.com/


https://addictionrehabtreatment.com/mentalhealth/anxiety/signs-and-symptoms-of-anxiety/


Twitter hashtags:

 

#AbuseByProxy #Adultery #AgainstBullying #BackStabbers #ClusterB #CPTSD #DomesticViolence #Enablers #FlirtingIsCheating #FlyingMonkeys #Gaslighting #HealingFromCPTSD #IAmEnough #IAmStillStanding #IfMyWoundsWereVisible #Infidelity #MicroAggression #NarcissisticAbuse #Narcissism #Narcissist #NarcissisticPersonalityDisorder #NarcissisticSupply #Psychopath #PsychopathFree #SmearCampaign #Sociopath #ThrivingAfterNarcissisticAbuse #TwoFaced #WNAAD

 

#Depression #Anxiety #Lonely #Relationship #NeedToTalk #Counseling #MentalHealth #Advocacy #Therapy #SelfImprovement #SelfEsteem #Motivation #Empowerment #Inspiration #Incentive #Hope #Help #SelfCare #SelfHelp #Equality #Diversity #Equity #Inclusion #PeaceOfMind #Community

Friday, July 19, 2019

Slipped Masks - How would you see the world ... if you were convinced you could transform into a wolf?


Slipped Masks is a dark neo-noir thriller about how the need for love and companionship becomes twisted into obsession, possession, jealousy, violence and murder.

Themes: sociopathy, narcissistic abuse, personality disorder, Clinical Lycanthropy, crime, murder.

A percentage from sales of this book is donated to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research.

Follow the link below to buy my book in Paperback or Kindle:


Back cover blurb:

I can’t call you because if he hears me talking on the phone he’ll hit me again. He scares me. I know sooner or later he’s going to kill me. I’ll text you again when I can. I love you, Casey. I’ll spend the rest of our lives proving to you how much I love you. Please come. Please save me …

With only text messages to guide him, Casey Byrne is on the hunt, racing across five states to save his ex-girlfriend, Madison.

Casey loves Madison deeply and wants desperately to save her life and rekindle their relationship.

But the closer he gets to her, the more surreal his journey becomes as the dead bodies pile up in his wake.